Behind every beautiful thing, flora cash says it is like stepping inside a movie where light and shadow meet in equilibrium, ‘in dance’. The Swedish-American pair has always been a study in contrasts; and in their fourth studio album, they quite effortlessly sift through the dichotomy of aesthetics and destruction, honesty and heroism amidst irony. It is an album that has not merely embraced paradoxes even while at the logic stage, it submerges into them, and therefore it offers a package that takes you through dark nights of the soul and doesn’t simply provide the dusk but also manages to bring you back into the light, all in a gentle way.
When “Should’ve Dressed for the Event” plays before the start of credits, it can make or break an expectation set by a specific song. However, the funny part is there is a strange opulent melancholy to the song, and it is of a girl who is quite alarmingly undisturbed that she has gone to the wrong dress code party. The track is hushed and has no clear stated agenda, which is what augments that sense of isolation, but it is acceptance that follows. You know this album for sure doesn’t start nor ends in one way, instead it occupies the space of what is there and what could have been, and flora cash seems perfectly well off there.
Finally, let’s move to our next track, just wanna feel you. The sound is very mellow and it feels somewhat sensual and many couples would enjoy this song together. What stands out for me are the muted tones this song has. Even when the song feels like it is building up, it feels raw, but in a good way. Moreover, the song overall has quite a captivating emotional connection. Warmth isn’t represented in an excessive manner like in an traditional love song, rather it’s shown in a humane manner, where tenderness is just enough. I feel like this indeed is an effective theme which runs throughout the album.
Afterwards, we have like no one could, this song is much more softer and it allows the individual to feel dreamy. This song also provides a brief pause where one can take a moment for recollection. The track feels as though it is reflecting water, and at that very moment, one struggles to understand the purpose of trying to grasp something which is never meant to be. I believe the key appealing feel in this song is, despite the theme being dark, it brings forth hope which many people need.
After that, we reached the track titled “My Ex Would’ve Left By Now”. It definitely grabs the attention with a luring gesture but the emotions contained in the music are profound. There is an unusual touch here, an abstraction about the encompassing love of past relationships that were unable to work. All the same, the song is not a scornful one. One gets the impression that it is more about the acceptance of sorts of progress, coming to terms with the changes due time. This is the best of flora cash at the metamodern time, when the ironical attitude extends its hand to sincerity holding the two together to make something which can be referred to as real and experienced.
The song ”Morning Comes” bring a nice shift to the previous perspective as it shows hope. It is gentle, and warm like the first ray of light breaking into the sky after a long dark sleepless night. There is a nice depth here that envelops the song into a stylistic form of muted defiance. It actually suggests an obvious idea that after a long night, there is always a morning, regardless of its duration.
What is striking about the song “Baby I Love You” is its brutal naked honesty. There is no hint of irony, no anchoring, no metaphors. This is a song that is straight to the point Shades of grey does not exist in this song. Flora cash does not have to over-complicate things with hyperbolic lyrical content and bombastic production. Rather, they have decided to view it from an angle that would encourage incredible vulnerability in saying those three words as simple as can be. And that’s where all its beauty lies. It is about the love that does not require the fanciest of props and the catchiest of lines—only a sincere love in all the chaos intertwined into a person.
But just as you believe that you have found your comfort zone, flora cash takes you back into the dark with their song “The Night is Young”. The story of the song is beautifully rendered with a vocal that is eloquent yet humorous. It is a song for a restless dawdler who has not found a destination yet but knows they have to keep moving.
A line taken from the song ‘I’m tired’ is – “This is me admitting i’m exhausted” To be honest, this is quite captivating. At first listen, this sounds subdued as though the person is gently sighing out or taking in a deep breath which slowly turns into a more central theme throughout the song. The reason for that is the more sheer the emotion of surrender is the deeper the wise message of the lyric cuts. And that’s what this song seems to revisit – the struggle of a person whose exhausted out of life. This song is simply beautifully chaotic, from the nuances of the voice of the singer to the logic defying swings in emotion that made the song simpler.
Change the tune to, “Holy Water,” I remember it was in one of the albums where the singer was exploring deeper dimensions of their creativity. “Holy Water” is gripping and full of lines so imaginative, one could be forgiven for thinking that they are chant-like prayers that reside in the darkest of corners. It is unorthodox, the process this vocalist implements, but to have such imagination that relies so much on deep layers of synthesizers and strings interspersed throughout a sky like vision in a scene is quite paradoxical. Folora’s narration and persona is an absolute powerhouse. Although the word beautiful can sometimes feel too sleepy or passive, it beautifully encapsulates the themes revolving around humanity. “Holy Water” paints an image of hope in the listeners while reminding them that there are hard times that may scar them forever.
The song “Dragon,” the second to last song of the album, does continue with the whole mythical tone, but it carries a more personal vibe. It’s almost as if flora cash is dealing with fears that are very large and yet even more personal. There are guitar and vocal rhythms that seem to move like tides which gives an impression that the battle being fought is both internal in the head and heart. It is a battle indeed, a battle of acknowledgement of all the dragons we have and the fact that they cannot be slayed before being named.
Then in the end, the album is closed by “The Builder (För J. Blom).” Ending album which is of thread and paradoxical elements with a song titled The Builder is manly apologetic. It is quite a complex figure of speech where the rawness of the heart overrides the combination of the moving segments of the cello and strings and beats, finally letting the heart offer its rawness. To me it means we are constantly under construction. Flora cash seems to mean that despite all the turmoil and the flaws, a structure is coming into existence brick by brick and moment by moment, one that may not be perfect but one that’s absolutely stunning.
Simply put, every beauty has a story, and by its complexity, it cannot be justified. There is love in chaos, life is not perfect, and everything is askew; and that is where beauty hides. Flora cash has always managed to search for the ray of light and in this case, they have managed to encapsulate it in a blanket which is unique and at the same time, common.
So for over thirty-eight minutes, flora cash take us for a walk to shadow and light, to happiness and sadness, to faith and mistrust, to beauty and nothingness.
